four days or seven days

We are planning our next trip to Couples after three years of being unable to take a vacation. We are hoping to be able to go more frequently now. So my question is...Do we plan on going every year for 4 days, or every other year for seven days? Is it better to have a little of Couples every year, or wait until we have saved more money and extend our stay?

We'd rather have a week there instead of 1/2 that... we've done the 4 days and it sucks to be frank. We now just save up and go every other year but for at least a week. It's worth the wait knowing you'll be there long enough to enjoy everything. When you go for just a few nites it seems to feel rushed and like you're missing something.

If it were me... I would choose seven days every other year. Four would just leave you wanting a whole lot more....

I personally would HATE getting our eviction notice on day two or three. That would happen if you only went for four days. Almost half of your days on vacation would have been spent on travel to/or from Negril

Also, since the airfare will be the same for four or seven days, your costs per day would be less!! Maybe the math will work out to 9 days every two years.

It makes far more sense to go every other year for a week or even 8 nights. Remember your first day and your last day are mostly spent traveling and the cost of air can be 1/3 of your trip. If I had to leave after only 4 days I think I'd be sick!

I would go for a longer vacation every two years. Your airfare will be the same whether you stay for 4 days or 7. Actually, 4 days is no where near long enough. You really cannot count the day you arrive and the day you leave as vacation days. The first day you will be really tired after traveling all day to get there and the last day you will most likely be leaving in the morning. If it were me, I would aim at a minimum of 7 days and longer if you can. We have been to CSA five times and will be back. Love that place!

I will disagree with Gayle Ann ("You really cannot count the day you arrive ")...but only on a technicality because my wife and I are spoiling ourselves

We have a 6:00 a.m. flight out of Phili for our upcoming trip (12/15-21). We are then taking TimAir to Negril. If all goes as planned, we could be at the pool bar by 10:30 a.m. If I can have a Red Strip in hand at the pool bar by 10:30 a.m., I will call that a full vacation day!

You didn't say where u are coming from. If you have a relatively short and inexpensive flight from the East coast, 4 days every year could be good, especially if you are somewhere cold. Otherwise, I agree that with the time and money involved with flying, you should do the longer trip of 8-10 days (which would cost the same or less than 2 4 night trips). I find it takes a full week to adjust to Jamaica (heart rate slowing, stress and problems disappearing etc.) so I would say the longer you stay when you visit, the better.

I agree with most of the posters and 4 days wouldn't be enough for me but we're from the UK and it's a 10 hour flight to M'bay so 4 days would be a definite no-no. However, if you only have a short flight and arrive early in the morning with a late return flight on your last day, then 4 days would be doable. We fly to Spain/Italy (2.5 hour flight for us) for weekends and it's no problem - no jetlag or 5 hour time difference!!

I've done both... And we won't be doing couples in 2012 for financial reasons ( 350k for college in 8? years takes a bite). But iD take the 7 days. The first time we went we did 4 days because I didn't feel comfortable asking a live in babysitter for longer, and it was a mistake. Either way, you'll have a great time! [/I]

We went for 5 nights and that was not even near long enough 4 would be a tease. Think about what you would save on airfare going every other year. Prob about a grand right. So you can look at it as an extra grand to spend on extra nights (so more than 7) or on spa treatments, private dinners etc. You could even do a split stay and have a double vacation! And think of all the time you would have to plan. You could start a love away plan two years in advance, get locked in at a lower rate, or find the perfect Wednesday special. As tempting as couples sounds every year I personally would prefer a fantastic vacation every year over a short one where you are trying to fit everything into 4 days.

My write-in vote is for 5 days every year, but then again, we've never stayed for 7 or more (money and vacation time issues). If I had to wait 2 years for a vacation that actually gets me away from everything, I might go mad. Then again, we consolidated a lot to extend this year's trip out to 8 days. I think you also have to look at your overall picture, what is coming up financially or stress/big events that you might need to plan around. Ditto on the how long is the travel as part of the decision making process (we're from NY, so I think that may impact my point of view - cold weather and travel isn't that bad for us).

I would have to agree that 7 days every other year would be the way to go. With the travel time added 4 nights just is not worth the effort.

However I would STRONGLY recommend watching the Wednesday Specials. You can catch some pretty amazing rates through these deals. We were able to get CTI @ $299.00 for any room category up to a premium room. Upon arrival we were upgraded to a FULL one bedroom suite. OMG! What a spectacular trip we had.

We started with 6 nights, went to 7 and are now at 9. That for us is optimum, but I realize not everyone can do that. I would vote for the 7 though unless you can fly there in under 3 hours and can leave early in the morning. Then I could do 4 since travel time would not cut into it. Think someone else said that too.

Of course everyone's financial situation is different. If we could afford every other year for seven days we would be delighted. 4 days just doesn't seem to be more than a tease and memory jogger of what a great place it is. We actually would prefer 10 days or more. After our first visit this past Feb-March, we decided to come back every 5 years to celebrate our anniversary. The first trip was for our 25th. After being away from "home" for only 6 weeks I found the money to get back in Feb of 2012! So I would say look at every other year for 7 days and if something changes you can always go sooner for whatever length of time you can afford.

We have always done 7 nights & wished it were more .... It's been 16 months since we were at CN & heading back in 24 day for another 7 nights .... Wish everytime we could do 10 nights but can't leave our cat babies that long .... 4 nights is not enough so I'd say go less but for more days .... We booked this trip last Christmas on the Love Away Plan & the time has actually went pretty fast just knowing it was coming .... Watched that countdown timer daily.